THEATER PREVIEW: Let 'Chaperone' be your guide to a night of theater fun

If you're feeling melancholy after a bizarrely long winter, then The Company Theatre has just the antidote – a fun-filled musical featuring crazy characters that's pretty much guaranteed to have a happy ending.

If you’re feeling melancholy after a bizarrely long winter, then The Company Theatre has just the antidote – a fun-filled musical featuring crazy characters that’s pretty much guaranteed to have a happy ending.

Company presents the “The Drowsy Chaperone” beginning Friday and running through April 27. Billed as “a musical within a comedy,” it features a sad, solitary man (Man in Chair) seeking solace in a phonographic recording of his favorite 1920s musical. As the record begins, “The Drowsy Chaperone” (also the name of the fictitious show and one of its most interesting characters) comes to life in the man’s apartment. It’s a wacky story about a showgirl set to marry an oil tycoon despite the protests of her famous producer. It also features pastry chef gangsters, a Latin lothario, an aging hostess and a ditzy, hopeful actress.

“The “Drowsy Chaperone” won the Tony Award for best book and score in 2006 and featured Sutton Foster as the bride – Janet van de Graaf.

“We’re all ready for some fun. Even Man in Chair says, ‘I want to be taken away to have some fun. Is that so wrong?’ People want to come to theater and be taken away with fun music. They don’t want to be bombarded with sad issues,” said choreographer Sally Ashton Forrest during a recent rehearsal.

Danny Bolton plays Man in Chair and is on the stage throughout, enjoying and occasionally participating in the proceedings. Bolton has a lot of empathy for the man and his obsession. “I think audiences will relate to him. There is something in each of the characters that he latches onto. I think he sees a little bit of himself and understands them in a way he thinks no one else can. It (the record and show) is very personal to him,” said Bolton.

Bolton cites the song “I am Adolpho” featuring Adolpho (Andrew Giordano) and The Drowsy Chaperone (Corinne Mason) as a perfect example of Man in Chair relating to characters who are very different from him. “It’s this wild, frenetic number. They perform with reckless abandon and he could never do that comfortably. It’s fun,” said Bolton.

Mason agrees and loves the great ensemble cast. The performers are very talented, and most will be familiar to fans of The Company Theatre.

“I think we are ready. Everyone (in this cast) has always wanted to play these characters. We have felt like a team since very early in the process, and we can’t wait to show the world what we have (to offer). It’s so exciting,” Mason said.

Page 2 of 2 - Mason’s character is a tipsy and well-established actress who loves the spotlight. “She’s not very much like me, so it been fun to embody her diva qualities. Her rousing alcoholic anthem (“As We Stumble Along”) is probably my favorite number. I get to do things that would be weird in other numbers.”

Cat Umano, who plays Janet van de Graaf, has wanted to be in this show since she saw it on Broadway years ago. “(When I went to see it) I couldn’t breathe because I was laughing so hard. It’s so ridiculous and funny. There are so many crazy things that you don’t see coming at all,” she said.

Umano said she’s very excited about her role as the showgirl come bride-to-be. “There are so many fun things to play with. I get to be overdramatic and do these crazy things.”

Umano is featured in “Showoff,” one of the show’s most well-known and entertaining numbers. “It’s fun but very challenging at the same time.”

Umano, Mason and Bolton all separately named “Bride’s Lament” as one of their favorites in the show. The number features van de Graaf thinking things over before her wedding and singing about some monkeys on a pedestal. “The lyrics are so ridiculous and her (Umano’s) solo is just beautiful. And then the ensemble backs her up singing ‘monkey, monkey, monkey’ over and over again. It’s hysterical and fun to be part of,” said Mason.

Said Bolton about the show: “I think anyone will enjoy the show that wants to have a good time. I defy anyone not to. It is silly, irreverent and upbeat with a message from each of the characters.”

Forrest added, “If you love going to the theater, this will (rouse) your love of the theater.”